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The systematics of Australopithecus garhi

2001; Volume: 9; Issue: 15 Linguagem: Inglês

1133-5165

David S. Strait, Frederick E. Grine,

Morphological variations and asymmetry

Cladistic analysis was used to test the hypothesis that Australopithecus garhi is ancestral to the genus Homo. The data set of a prior cladistic analysis (Strait et al., 1997) was updated to account for recent fossil hominid discoveries, and reanalyzed. Current evidence suggests that A. garhi is the sister taxon of a clade that includes Homo, Paranthropus and A. africanus. Such a result is inconsistent with the hypothesis that A. garhi is the direct ancestor of the genus Homo. Conditions are specified under which future fossil finds might necessitate a revision of this conclusion. Key words: Australopithecus, Paranthropus, Homo, hominid phylogeny, cladistics, taxonomy.